


In My Mind, I Am Eloquent

by demipunk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (it will), Alternate Universe - Normal Life, College, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, also There Will Be Puns, and Christmas!, bakery worker lance, bookstore worker keith, lots of books and songs get worked in eventually, slow burn? more like medium burn, the book Warm Bodies gets worked in eventually, what lance doesnt know wont hurt him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2019-06-28 00:18:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15696333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demipunk/pseuds/demipunk
Summary: Lance isn't someone Keith had ever actually seen before.Lance isn't someone Keith had ever actually heard speak before.Lance apparently knows almost all of his friends, but neither of them had ever noticed each other.Lance is Keith's soulmate.Keith knows that.Lance doesn't.Keith has no current plan to make him, in any sort of way, aware that he knows they're soulmates. Or that his friends know. Or that basically everyone except for Lance knows that the person he's destined to be with forever works only a few doors down.Not yet. Not until Keith knows what he should say.And that's gonna take awhile.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not like Keith disliked his job. No, Echoes was a solid place to work, just a little used bookshop tucked in what was technically the basement level of a building. It sat underneath some mediocre coffee place and next to a beauty supply store. It was just the fact that the shelves he was currently stocking were also the support beams for said coffee place. He had to fight hard to ignore the thought of what would happen if a shelf broke, breaking the beam and collapsing the roof above them inwards. That would be… messy.

So, he listened in on the chatter of his coworkers behind him, keeping one of his earbuds in at the same time, using both as means to distract himself. He mostly stayed absorbed in whatever song was playing but occasionally chimed in on the conversation when he either felt the need to or when he was called to be the deciding opinion for something important and/or stupid.

What Matt was getting his attention for was decidedly something stupid. “Keith, weigh in over here,” He was sitting on the counter, looking towards where Keith was kneeling in front of the YA novel section, “Who’d really win in a fight, Godzilla or Mothman?” Such burning questions were always what came up just before they were about to close up for the night.

“Oh, c’mon!” Hunk protested from the back storeroom before Keith even opened his mouth, “He’s got a bias! You know he’ll pick Mothman! He _always_ picks Mothman!” Hunk had taken organizing the pre-orders back there over shelving duty. Keith didn’t blame him; Hunk was just as big of an overthinker as Keith was.

Keith didn’t even turn around, hiding a small smirk as he flatly responded, “Godzilla. No contest.”

Matt gave a dramatic inhale as he hopped off the counter, and Hunk made a surprised but happy noise that indicated he had absolutely lit up at Keith’s response.

Immediately, Keith could take a solid guess of who was betting on who here.

“How could you! I was going off of your cryptid bias!” Matt‘s huff confirmed Keith’s suspicions, feigning betrayal- Actually, that could’ve been real betrayal tinting his voice? Either way, Keith just shook his head and chuckled to himself. He would’ve started his explanation on how it was _obvious_ Godzilla would win, _Mothman would actually be proportionally moth-sized next to Godzilla, he could totally just swipe him out of the air, duh,_ but got cut off by the bell above the shop's door ringing. At the same time, he heard Matt drop something and curse quietly, bending over to pick whatever it was up as someone entered the shop. Keith couldn’t actually see the door from behind his shelf, but he could tell it was just one person from the footsteps. Matt already had his customer service voice on, slightly muffled from being under the counter an all, “Welcome to Echoes! Let us know if there’s anything we can help you with!” Matt finally found whatever he had dropped and popped back up, finally seeing whoever it was, “Oh, it’s just you. Hey, dude.”

‘Dude’ responded with a laugh, “Yeah, just me.” Keith didn’t recognize the voice, but stayed quiet, deciding to put in his other earbud hastily. The lyrics to came through clearer, and he fixated on the shelves in front of him, blocking out whatever conversation was starting between Matt and this stranger. ‘ _I'm weak, and what's wrong with that?/Boy, oh boy I love it when I fall for that…_ ’ Keith was a bit peeved that he couldn’t’ve gotten one of his more well-liked songs playing, but he didn’t have a free hand to shuffle with and just had to focus through it. ‘ _Weak_ ’ would work.

Keith always stayed quiet and tried not to listen whenever someone he didn’t know came in the shop. He didn’t want to eavesdrop and speak without really thinking and risk having something that was meant casually end up being… y’know, _the_ words. Keith had a big fear of his words for someone being boring, confusing, or accidentally rude. He’d rather they ended up being romantic, intelligent, unique, _profound_ even… Of course, there was no way to guarantee any of that. You never knew if whatever was coming out of your mouth would somehow be the words imprinted on your soulmates skin. You just had to hope they weren’t awful.

Keith hated that, to say the least. He hated waiting and aching to know when and where he’d finally hear his soulmate’s words, and at the same time wondering what phrase exactly he’d eventually say that were imprinted on whoever he’d be destined to be with forever. The only thing he was thankful for was the sole, unspoken promise that the words would stand out. No one had ever just gotten _‘Thanks_!’ or “ _Excuse_ _me_.’ No, the words were always something that caught your attention in some way, something you couldn’t ignore. That was also part of Keith refusing to listen in, because he thought that maybe he could put off physically hearing the words until he was someplace a little more intimate and a little less right in front of his coworkers. He hoped that would work out that way at least. Would be a literal crying shame if it didn’t. Keith really had to fight off obsessing over the thought of somehow actually having ignored his words by not listening hard enough and thus sabotaging himself forever. That was truly too much to bear.

Maybe thankfully, he was jarred out of the thought by someone bumping into him. They must’ve not noticed him kneeling there, and Keith managed to actually dislodge his earbuds when he fell to his side. The fall didn’t hurt at all, just caught him off guard. “Oh, shit, sorry!” A voice above him exclaimed, and Keith looked up to see that unknown customer standing over him, looking embarrassed and offering a hand up.

The first thought that came to mind when Keith looked at him was an extremely stunned, drawn out, _‘Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_ .’ With his brown hair fairly tousled and the button up he was wearing a bit rumpled, this guy still managed to look great, to say the least. Hell, to say this customer was exactly his type would be an understatement for sure, and Keith was actually almost disappointed that the words right above his right hip bone _weren’t_ in fact ‘ _oh, shit, sorry._ ’ Sure, it’d have at best confused him and at worst irritated him his whole life to have those on him, but for this guy? _Probably_ worth it.

Keith was too caught up in that possibility to take the hand, blinking up at him and finally sputtering out, “Uh, ‘s fine.” He righted himself, choosing to go back to shelving book especially hard to hide his rising blush. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the stranger scowl a little but finally shrugging, turning back towards Matt. At some point when he wasn’t tuned in, Hunk must’ve come out from the back, as he could hear him more clearly now than before. He was chuckling, “Gee, Lance, you sure this is your book order? Doesn’t seem like your style.”

Keith had almost put his earbuds back in but just decided to forget about them. He was still stuck in his thoughts, stuck thinking about the possibility that maybe he thought too much. It didn't stop his work, and he didn’t really need any other distractions besides their voices and the steady motion of putting everything in its place, he’d be out of here in a bit anyway.

Lance- whoever this guy was, he must’ve been popular, as Hunk sounded familiar with him too- sounded sheepish, but the words he spoke shook Keith to his core, “I wish I could say I wasn’t buying them for myself, trust me.”

It was said casually. In a joking way, even. Apparently spoken about some unseen pre-order that Hunk was obviously making fun of this Lance guy for. He probably hadn’t exactly been turning the sentence over and over again in his head for years. It was just what came to him right then and there. It wasn’t much.

But those 13 words were the ones written in clear, bold letters against Keith’s skin. Those words had been on him since he turned 13. He’d looked at them in reverse in the mirror nearly every day for the past 7 years with varying degree of intrigue, always wondering what exactly his soulmate was so ashamed to be buying. Hell, part of why he wanted his words to be profound was so that his soulmate would get the better end of the deal, and only Keith would’ve had something confusing this whole time. He assumed it’d be worth it, he’d seen it as a gift he could give his soulmate before ever even knowing them.

The shock made Keith freeze. Part of him knew this was his shot. He could chime in with whatever he wanted right now, and that would be guaranteed to be on Lance’s skin somewhere, guaranteed to have been there since he was 13 too. Keith could guarantee that his words really were profound after all. He could guarantee Lance had something worth waiting for on him.

But right now, all intelligence had left him. He was as useful as a lovestruck brick cemented in front of this damn bookshelf. He didn’t even finish putting away whatever volume he was holding, stuck mid-action like a lagged animation. Keith prayed to whatever cosmic forces necessary that Lance wouldn’t notice him. He prayed to melt into the ground. He prayed to have his mouth sealed shut so he could guarantee that no idiocracy would tumble out of his lips the minute Lance asked what was wrong. On his grave, Keith did not need the words on Lance to end up actually being, ‘ _UhhhhhHHHHH YOU’RE HOT AND I'M SORRY BUT YOU’RE KINDA SORT OF MY SOULMATE I THINK?_ ’ Ohoho, no, no, no, that would be a type of shame he could not bear. He’d stay silent until Lance walked out. Any minute now. He could barely hear whatever him and Hunk were still talking about over the blood suddenly pounding in his ears.

At some point, Keith must’ve started holding his breath, because he realized he was getting lightheaded. It only made the pounding worse, and he was just barely saved by the faint sound of Lance saying goodbye to Hunk and finally exhaled when the bell signaled his departure from the shop. Immediately, Keith fell from the kneel straight onto his ass. Then he fell back so he was flat against the floor. It was a less than flattering move, sure, but it felt extremely right for the situation. He’d never felt such silence in his body like he was feeling right now. Right now, Keith couldn’t manage to care about any thoughts of the shelve-beams breaking or of floods of customers coming in and trampling him or of the world ending. Right now, he needed to splay out as much as possible and stare at the ceiling like it held the secret to life itself.

After a heavy moment of silence Hunk awkwardly croaked, “Keith, buddy, you good?” Matt was squinting at him concernedly, asking the same question.

Wordlessly, Keith lifted the right corner of his shirt just enough to expose the letters permanently placed there. He’d never risked showing anyone before, never spoken to anyone he even slightly considered might be his soulmate before they spoke to him first. Keith needed the security that the words would come naturally. Now he swore that area suddenly felt so much warmer since he heard Lance say it all.

Hunk walked over, leaning down to read it, and his eyes widened as he sucked in a breath, “Oh- Oh my god. Is that- Did he actually say that? That was this?”

Making his way over as well, Matt took his own look and whistled, “He sure did.” Matt poked at the spot without much thought, frowning.

Keith nodded numbly in confirmation, and he wasn’t sure if numb was much of a feeling at all. Of course, it was usually considered the absolute absence of feeling, but being there at all meant it was definitely _something_ . He felt like it was a filler for all the things he could be feeling right now, but somehow didn’t _know_ how to feel. He couldn’t settle on scared, excited, relieved, grateful, or nauseous- Okay, the nausea was for sure. He’d never actually felt butterflies like this and was pretty sure this was some new species of ultra-anxiety triggered symbolic-insect. All he knew was he needed to go home. He needed to go home badly. His whole body screamed for _home_ and _bed_ and _covers,_ pulled tight around him to help him process this. He shuddered his way to sitting up, Matt helping him on his way. Keith paused as Hunk spoke, “Lance couldn’t’ve gotten fair, we can still catch up to him and tell him!”

“We will do none of that!” Keith finally snapped, “That is _not_ my priority right now, Hunk!”

“Hey man, cool it, what’s the issue with it?” Matt spoke up for Hunk, “Here’s your opportunity, that’s your guy! He deserves to know, to hear you too.”

“Not like this!” Keith practically hissed, shrugging Matts hands off him, “Holy shit, in _no_ way like this. Not right now, I- I need time, I need to figure out what to say.”

Hunk had sat down himself, leaning towards Keith, “You don’t need to think, just say what comes naturally to you. That’s what I did.”

Keith made a face at him, “You said Shay’s words before she said yours, you weren’t reacting to her or anything. And yours were actually kind of _nice_ even, you poetic bastard!”

After a moment of opening and closing his mouth, Hunk stopped searching for a response and just kind of shrugged. He couldn’t deny that he was proud of the fact Shay had something nice on her and loved what he did too. If they were any sweeter, they'd have cavities. Matt had a fast reply though, raising a brow at Keith, “Hey, I said mine in response to your own brother, and it really wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“You’re not- You’re not me, Matt. You’re in no way this much of a mess,” He made a general gesture to the entirety of himself, “I’ll fuck it up, I know it, I’ll say something so dumb that Lance won’t be happy to hear me, he’ll just be happy to cuss out the guy who gave him the stupidest words in the world to have on you your whole life.”

“Oh, I’ve seen people with things worse than you could imagine,” Matt laughed, rocking back on his heels, “And no matter how bad, they always end up being okay with it once they finally have their soulmate. It doesn’t matter that much when you get that big of a gift in the end.”

Keith’s chin jutted out a bit as he scowled, pouting nearly. He couldn’t think of a witty retort and finally said in what was definitely an irrational response, “Well, mine’ll be the worst for forever and ever. They’ll write books about how bad it was.”

Hunk and Matt both gave him the same frustrated look before glancing towards each other, Hunk breaking first, “Fine, then what do you want to do?”

“I…” Keith bit his lip before quickly getting up, “I’m gonna think about what I want to do on my way home. I think this is a solid excuse to clock out early.” He didn’t say that as a suggestion, but a firm statement. After grabbing his coat out of the back room he headed to the exit, only stopping when Matt grabbed his arm.

Matt had a surprisingly gentle expression, eyebrows knit together with a soft smile, “Keith… You know we’re here if you need anything, right?”

“Yeah,” Hunk added, “We’re not just co-workers, man, we’re your friends.”

Keith couldn’t help his voice cracking a little, “What I need is for Lance not to know. Please, if you’re my friends, don’t let him know. Just respect that until I know what I really want, alright?”

Again, Matt and Hunk exchanged another look before both agreeing, giving Keith just a bit of relief. With that, he headed outside, shrugging on his coat to fight the autumn chill that gnawed through his thin flannel. The whole walk home, all he could hope was that maybe Shiro could give him some sort of brotherly advice on how to not totally destroy this one.


	2. Chapter 2

After what was normally a short train ride felt like it took all of eternity, Keith finally made his way home. Part of him was planning on having some sort of explanation of his problem at the ready so that he could be as clear as possible with Shiro regarding the kind of advice he needed. It was late, and he didn’t want to waste time. But it was very difficult to use any of the neverending time wasted on the train for thinking of something useful like that.

No, instead, Keith had a series of realizations on that train ride. The minute he had boarded, he looked around and realized he didn’t recognize any of these commuters… Well, not in a horror movie way where the people he knew had all been replaced by aliens or ghosts. He’d never recognized them before tonight, truthfully, but now it felt... different. Before, the fact that he didn’t recognize any of them meant they were all possibilities. It meant he worked very hard to keep himself closed off, quiet and totally absorbed in whatever auditory distraction he could find. Anything to avoid meeting his soulmate so out of nowhere. Small talk wasn’t worth the risk Keith perceived in that.

There were people who were thrilled by that risk, who got very chatty with every stranger they encountered because they wanted to find their perfect match by whatever means necessary. The world was their oyster, their soulmate hidden amongst the crowd. All they needed to do was speak up loud enough for at least a good amount of people to hear, and hope those were the magic words. They threw caution to the wind and were obviously prepared to dive right into life with their soulmate the minute they realized they found them.

It should be clear by now that Keith was not one of those people, nor had he ever understood them. He wasn’t sure if he ever would.

Right now, all he finally understood was that these people weren’t his possibilities anymore. They were all dead ends, just regular, normal people he could risk interacting with even. He could say ‘ _Hey, what do you do for a living?_ ’ to the man carrying a briefcase next to him and not worry about catching the ear of a possible soulmate as they left the train car. He could make a crass joke about the train coming late out loud without suddenly locking eyes with someone across the platform and having them dramatically shift a garment they’re wearing, revealing whatever stupid pun he made imprinted on them for a lifetime. Rose petals would not rain from the sky if the stoner sitting opposite of him heard him say just-the-right-something.

No, the only person he had to worry about opening his mouth in front of (or near) now was Lance- A guy who Keith still did not know the personality of, what he did for a living, or even his last name. He was off to a less than hopeful looking start.

Keith knew it was less than likely in a world like this, but why couldn’t you realize someone was your soulmate after y’know, getting to know them a bit? Wouldn’t that be nice?

He thought of all the things he didn’t know about Lance for a good part of the ride too, and for most of his final walk home. He wondered what Lance liked to do, what his family life was like. Maybe he was like Keith, without much family to speak of beyond a few key people. He must like to read if Hunk was teasing him for his book order. Maybe he went to the other nearby university, that’d make Keith feel a bit better about never knowing who he was. Keith tried to ignore the annoyingly persistent part of him that hoped Lance was a romantic with a bit more a natural tact for it than Keith had. He hoped Lance would be that kind of guy who’d make Keith happy soulmates existed.

When he finally walked into his own home, Keith heard what sounded like Shiro on the phone with someone in the living room. Keith toed off his shoes at the door before walking toward the living room doorway, trying to just poke his head in to see if he could tell who Shiro was talking to before his older brother noticed he was home.

“No,” Shiro sounded a bit annoyed but like he was trying to be patient, pacing the room in a rough circle, “No, aunty, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that- That, uh…” He turned just the right way and saw Keith before he could jump out of view, and continued talking much faster on the phone, “My brother! My brother just came home! Don’t you want to say hi to him, Aunt Emi? He wants to!”

Keith tried to back away, mouthing ‘ _HE WOULD NOT LIKE TO_ ’ and Shiro suddenly thrust the phone towards him, whispering through gritted teeth, “ _Take it!_ ”

“No, _you_ take it!” Keith did the same, trying not to be too loud, “You’re the one who called her!”

“No! I didn’t! She called and _hasn’t stopped talking for half an hour!_ ” Shiro got close enough to push the phone into Keith’ hand’s and up towards his ear, speaking louder so their aunt could hear him, “Here he is, aunty! Keith, who you haven’t talked to in _years_!”

“Keith!” The voice of an elderly woman (who Keith was decently sure they weren’t even actually related to but called aunty because they were taught to when they were younger) came through clearly on the other side, “How are you, dear?”

Keith didn’t know what to do. She was still talking as he tried to think, asking about his friends and grades and job, and Keith weighed the options for what to do considering 1. He didn’t have the emotional capacity to handle faking wanting to be in this conversation right now, and 2. Shiro was walking away and towards his bedroom, obviously ready to turn in for the night. Sleeping Shiro meant no way to receive any sort of guidance until morning, and Keith assumed that if he waited much longer to talk to a real human person about this, he’d explode.

So, Keith just spat out the first thing that came to mind, “Hi! Yes, aunty, you know I love you, I do, okay, but I gotta go, okay,  today I met my soulmate and I _really_ gotta go because of it _okaybyeloveyousorry_ !” He hung up before she could respond, cringing as his finger pressed ‘ _End Call_ .’ He spoke through a groan, “Why does she always have to call so _late_?”

Shiro was looking at him with wide eyes. He blinked at Keith for a while, looked at the phone, looked back up at him, looked at how rushed and disheveled and conflicted he looked, looked at the phone one last time, and finally asked in a deadpan tone, “You met your _who_?”

“Shiro, you know what a soulmate is.” Keith’s eyebrows knit together, “That’s what I really need some help with right now. You know this area of expertise a whole lot better than I do, considering how long you’ve had yours.” Shiro and Matt had been together for the past 2 years, and the only reason Matt didn’t live with them yet was that they just hadn’t quite gotten around to it yet.

Shaking his head as if he were just clearing it, Shiro cleared his throat, “Oh, uh, yeah, I can… I can try to help?”

“Oh no, why do you sound uncertain?” Keith maybe panicked a bit, “Uncertain Shiro is not who I need right now, I need Wise Old Guy Shiro.”

“I’m not old!” Shiro protested immediately, “I’m… an age I don’t need to point out right now! Not old!”

“You’re 26 but act super old, okay?” Keith made his way over to flop on their couch, “And I need that, bad,” He got quieter, grabbing a pillow and hugging it close to his chest, “‘Cus right now I suddenly feel like not one minute of my life has prepared me for this. I feel like a stupid kid.”

“First of all, you _are_ a stupid kid, but my favorite stupid kid.” Shiro snorted a bit of a laugh, coming over to sit on the edge of the couch, “No one’s really prepared. It just happens, and we all figure it out from there. No need to panic just yet,” He smiled, trying his best to start being helpful, “The first thing I need to know is if they’re taking it as hard as you obviously are right now.”

Keith pursed his lips, looking away. He mumbled something, and when Shiro asked him to repeat it Keith sounded like he was trying his best to downplay this, “I uh… don’t really know how he’s taking it? Because he doesn’t actually… know?” He couldn’t manage to look at Shiro right now.

Again, Shiro took a moment to look at him. A subtle expression of ‘ _I’ve failed as a brother and raised an anomaly of a human disaster_ ’ flashed across his face before he took a deep breath, “He doesn’t know? _You_ know, and he just doesn’t. At all?”

“Not as far as I’m aware?” Keith shrugged, wincing, “He said my words, but I froze up. I was scared, okay? All I thought to do was to just… y’know, wait for him to leave, and figure out how to track him down and talk to him _after_ I’ve figured out what I want my words for him to be.”

Shiro tried not to look too baffled, but he couldn’t hide the scolding edge to his voice, “Keith, you really shouldn’t have-” He closed his eyes, turning away slightly to take a breath before continuing in a gentler tone, “I can’t tell you what to say to him. No one can. It has to come naturally, you know that. It’s part of the way the world works.”

“I suck at doing things naturally!” Keith moved the pillow to cover his own face, groaning into it, “I don’t even know when to do it! Or where! Everything is confusing and it kind of hurts- Knowing my soulmate _hurts_ , and I don’t even really _know_ him yet!”

Although he couldn’t see him, Keith knew this was when Shiro gave him the ‘ _you poor thing_ ’ look he gave him whenever he was screwing himself over unnecessarily. It was kind of sad that he did it often enough that his brother had that look prepared, but that's beside the point. Finally, he just sighed and asked, “Well, do you know his name?”

Keith moved the pillow away to blow a raspberry and speak, “Lance. His name is Lance.” He didn’t add that he actually really liked the name Lance, and that was a relief because he secretly feared having a soulmate with a really ugly name. Call him shallow.

Shiro cocked his head to the side a bit, “Lance? Tall, kinda lanky, brown hair, Cuban kid?”

“How the hell would I know if he’s Cuban?” Keith sat up slightly and squinted at Shiro, “Wait, how do you know what he looks like?”

Shiro shrugged, “That’s what the only Lance I know looks like.”

Keith bolted upright, “You know him?!”

Shiro jolted back, smiling nervously, “He’s Matt’s sister's roommate. Good kid-”

“He rooms with Pidge?” Keith was more than distraught, “That- That means he's roommates with Hunk too, and Hunk knows I know that he’s my- Holy shit. Holy shit. How did I not know him?!” If he didn’t trust Hunk so much, he’d be afraid he was going to rat Keith out as soon as he saw Lance.

“You’re not exactly the most observant,” Shiro snickered at him, “I took you a week to notice I was dying my hair.”

“I don’t check that sort of thing!” Keith squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing at them, “I thought you just got less old looking!”

“I’m not old!” Shiro repeated himself, “I’m-”

Keith made a series of waving away motions, looking obviously frustrated, “That’s beside the point! Focus!” He took a deep breath, steadying himself, “I need to know everything you know about him- Where does he go to school? What kind of stuff does he like to do? Is he a serial killer?”

Shiro made a face, thinking, “He goes to GU too, first of all…” Keith was about to ask how he’d never seen him before but Shiro already had the answer, “But he’s in the science building and you’re in the humanities, so it’s not really that surprising that you’ve never run into each other.”

“My soulmate’s a STEM major?” Keith half frowned.

Shiro gave him the side eye, “Don’t say that with so much disappointment when your brother’s a professor in that department. You were in it too before you transferred.” Keith stuck out his tongue a bit at him, laughing as he dodged the pillow Shiro threw at him before continuing, “Anyway, as far as I know, he’s into video games and movies, those kinds of things. Don’t know much more than that, honestly. Matt doesn’t talk about him that often, the stuff I told you is all I’ve got.”

Video games and movies. Keith could work with video games and movies, depending on the kind. Finally, he asked half-jokingly, “And the serial killer question?”

“If he is, it’s a mystery to me,” Shiro laughed, “Good luck if he is, and don’t become an accomplice to any crimes. We don’t have enough money to bail you out.”

This time Keith threw the pillow, hitting Shiro’s chest when he didn’t dodge fast enough and faking anger, “Don’t imply I’m a future criminal when I’m in distress!”

“I’m just trying to relieve some of that distress,” Shiro reassured him, going back to genuinely trying to help him out here as he continued, “But seriously, panicking about this isn’t going to do you any good. If I were you, I’d just find him as soon as possible and say whatever comes from your heart.”

“Yeah,” Keith exhaled deeply, looking away, “But you’re not me. You and Matt found each other at the same time, spoke to each other right then and there. What if me putting it off already messed everything up?”

Shiro thought for a moment before replying with a sort of finality, “Then you’ll just have to deal with that as it comes.” He stood up, reaching over to ruffle Keith’s hair before starting to walk away, “But don’t worry about that right now, worry about getting enough sleep. I know I need it, I’ve got an 8 AM to teach tomorrow and there’s only so many times I can give my students a test so that I can use the silent period to nurse a headache.”

Keith huffed a laugh, but it was half-hearted, “Sure. I’ll worry about sleep, for now.” He was lying of course, but he didn’t want to admit it right then and there. Shiro said goodnight, and Keith replied the same before going to lay awake in his bed for the rest of the night.

There was no way he was sleeping, not for now, at least.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the long wait, everyone! I just got done with my first year at school and decided I really should try to pick up this fic again- I swear I do know exactly what I want to happen, so why not just sit down and write it?

Lance had no intention of working in a bakery when he started school. He thought he’d intern at a tech company or try to get something set up at a lab, but… Life happens. And he learned to like that, eventually. After starting there in his freshman year, Lance had just kept his job at Wallflour, coming back after breaks to work a couple shifts every week. It was far from the only bakery in town, but had its regulars, and the tip jar was never empty at the end of the day.

Right now, he was taking an order for a wedding, and the couple wanted a tower of croquembouche. It took Lance four tries to spell that one right, stalling for time by making small talk over the phone. By the time he got it right, he’d learned all about the couple, and when the order was complete he couldn’t help giving a relieved sigh at finally being able to hang up, “Why do I always get the talkers?”

“You are the _last_ person that can complain about someone being talkative, Lance,” A laugh came from the back, “What were they ordering?”

“Something it hurts my mouth to try to pronounce,” Lance took it upon himself to walk into the back so he could actually see Allura while he spoke to her, “The caramel cream puff things, and they want them in a big tower.”

Allura turned to face him, arching one manicured brow in his directions, “The croquembouche?”

“Sure, we’ll go with that.” Lance answered with a shrug and offered the notepad to her so she could confirm what he was saying for sure, “It’s French, alright?”

Allura wiped her hands off on her apron and gave the order a once over, “They want this instead of a wedding cake, don’t they?”

Lance leaned against the counter, huffing a laugh, “How’d you know?”

“Lots of people seem to be against cake lately,” Allura stated simply, “They want every part of their wedding to be unique, so they’re going for desserts that other people aren’t doing, photobooths, event hashtags…” She trailed off, looking a little wistful as she gestured with the notepad still in her hand.

“Didn’t know you were a wedding planner on the side,” Lance took the notepad back from her and jabbed a finger into it as he added, “I’d say these guys are pretty unique though- Y’know how I said they were talkers? The type that start telling you their whole story over the phone?” He flipped the pad of paper closed and shoved it into his back pocket, “Whoever was placing the order started telling me about them, and apparently they just met a _week_ ago!”

If this were before the ink started appearing on people, Allura- or frankly, anyone- probably would’ve looked at least a little shocked. But Allura just shrugged, “That’s really how people act now, isn’t it?”

“Sure, but I think that’s the shortest time between meet-to-marry I’ve heard yet outside of Las Vegas.” Lance started to meander around the back kitchen, keeping himself moving as he spoke, “it’s seriously like, how’d you even send out invitations that quickly?”

“Some people just can’t wait to spend forever with their... someone,” Allura’s voice got a little sad, and suddenly Lance remembered why he maybe shouldn’t bring up these things.

It was a hard story to acknowledge. A case of faked words, some sleaze who’d tricked her into thinking he was her soulmate by just reading her words back to her and hiding his actual ones, rushing to get a tattoo of some quote of hers in secret to make her believe it was for real. He’d gotten tired enough of waiting for his actual soulmate to somehow be okay with tricking someone who really wanted to believe him, someone like Allura who had a heart that was open enough to fall for that. It wasn’t an incredibly common con, but there were enough stories and tips for it that he’d pulled it off for a year or two before Allura spotted the coverup of his real words and left him.

To his credit, Lance tried to backtrack as he froze in place beside one of the industrial mixers, “Well, uh, I mean…” He couldn’t help but feel like he was performing the vocal equivalent of patting all of your pockets down while desperately feeling for your keys or wallet, “Different strokes for different folks, really, I can’t say that I wouldn’t want- Well I-”

Allura gave a quiet laugh that was still a little sad, “It’s okay, Lance. Some people are okay with waiting, some aren’t, and it’s… it’s still my fault that I wasn’t.” She had turned back to what she was doing on the work counter, gripping her piping bag a little tighter.

“C’mon, that’s not what I meant to imply,” Lance groaned, and came up behind her in a hug, “The offer to beat up your ex still stands, y’know.”

This time the laugh was far more genuine as Allura hugged him back with one arm, “And assault still stands as a crime, Lance,” She shrugged him off, “Let’s just drop it, okay?”

“Okay,” Lance’s reply was soft, clearly still feeling guilty but unsure of how to displace the feeling, “Hey, is there, uh, anything you need help with back here? Or am I just stuck manning the register until the end of the night?”

Sometimes Allura preferred to work on orders alone, and evidently this was one of those nights as she gave him a sympathetic look, “Honestly, it’s almost the end of your shift anyway, and I can handle any stragglers coming in before closing. Head home, study, go get some good sleep or something.”

As much as Lance wanted to be a good friend he felt this was more Allura’s attempt to be alone for a little while and decided to act excited for her benefit- Also, she was _technically_ his boss, so it was best just to smile and say, “Seriously? Thanks, Allura, you’re the best!” It wasn’t that big of a deal to go home an hour early when they closed at 6, but she was trying to be nice. He got his things from the coat room and hung up his apron on the hook, putting on his sweatshirt before finally retrieving his cellphone from his backpack. He didn’t like to have it on him while he was on the clock, it was too distracting to not feel tempted to be on it the whole time.

Before he left Lance popped his head into the kitchen, waving his phone in the air, “You’ve got my number if you need anything, yeah?”

“Of course I do, Lance,” Allura laughed as she turned to smile at him, “Go, have a good night, leave before I start giving you more creative suggestions for your time.”

Lance gave her a small smile and a nod before he left, the bell above the shop door ringing out his exit. His apartment wasn’t too far away from campus or work, so he was able to just walk instead having to commute with the train or pay for one of the overpriced parking meters, passing by all the parked cars and unable to wonder about where the occupants were right now.

Lance liked to theorize about strangers lives based off of one thing or another, using any unaccompanied physical object he could to build a person out of and take them apart just as quickly. Each leftover coffee cop or empty car contained plenty of personalities. Unlike some of his friends though, he tried not to think too hard of what his soulmate would be like. Like his job, he felt like that was a time to wait for life to happen.

A buzz in his pocket interrupted his theories, and he opened his phone to an onslaught of messages from his extended family’s group chat. He couldn’t help but question who taught his aunties to use smartphones before actually beginning to read them- And subsequently feeling his heart drop through his feet. “ _CARMEN HEARD HER WORDS TODAY!_ ” The screen lit up an imposing blue bubble coming in from one of his older cousin’s, followed by a flood of even more upon more, and he instantly understood the excitement. The whole family always reacted like this whenever news broke that someone had met their soulmate, as congratulations and well wishes flooded in. His family may have become a bit thin-spread location wise, but on matters of love they remained as close as ever. Swallowing hard, Lance stopped walking to type out an obligatory message, more habit than out of genuine pride for her.

After all, Carmen was _15_ , and it felt a little strange to really mean it when telling her to enjoy the rest of her life with this one set person.

Lance ended up temporarily muting the chat so as to not continue getting any more notifications about this, at least not for tonight. He didn’t feel like being happy for his cousin’s daughter right now, as he was reminded of his thoughts of life happening.

Life happened, and he got into his dream school and passed the exams necessary to fast track himself into the right program.

Life happened, and he got a job outside of his usual skillset but that he loved.

Life happened, and he had gotten two amazing friends quick enough into freshman year that he was now one of few sophomores with an off campus apartment with friends he could stand.

Life had happened in a lot of ways that made him feel very lucky and grateful, of course.

But life had been waiting to happen for some time for him in... certain areas.

To call Lance a late bloomer would be insulting to the perfectly timed awkward growth spurt of 7th grade, or to the just in time voice crack when he was 14. No, physically, he certainly wasn’t a late bloomer for his family… But in the soulmate area, he was practically geriatric among the rest of his family’s record. It wasn’t a lack of effort on his part, no, he’d already gone through a regrettable period of his life where he took every opportunity to go out and meet people, unafraid of the risk of looking silly if it just meant he could finally meet them. He wasted a lot of time that way, and had to slow down if he wanted to get through school. But still, he did spend a lot of time desperately wanting to be able to bring home, well, the one.

Hell, sometimes Lance wondered if he was more excited to meet his soulmate or to finally get his family off his back about it.

He tried not to spend his whole walk wondering, readjusting the weight of his backpack on his shoulders as he picked up the pace a bit. He reminded himself that he wouldn’t have this kind of weather for much longer, not when fall started turning over to winter, he’d learned the lesson of how quickly the weather turned freshman year. Why he thought it’d be smart to go North for college, he’d never stop grilling himself for.

Occupying himself with something as trivial as the weather worked well enough until he finally arrived at the apartment’s front door, digging out his keycard to get into the building before heading for the elevator. It creaked like hell and made him nervous, but it was better than going up six flights of stairs, and he took the time to dig his actual keys out of his bag as he tried to ignore a looming headache.

But for some reason, when he went to unlock the door, it wouldn’t budge. He scowled, checking the key he was using before trying it again. Pidge was always home before him, and Hulk wasn’t scheduled to work today, right? Lance resorted to knocking on his own door as he called out, “Hey, is there something wrong with the door? Guys?”

Before he thought he might’ve been hearing some muffled voices, but now there was for sure some sort of fumble before the doorknob finally turned from the other side. He was greeted by Hunk’s apologetic face, “Lance! Funny to see you here!”

“I _live_ here.” Lance replied slowly, pushing the door open further and walking past his friend.

“Right!” Hunk replied almost too quickly, closing the door behind him, “Sorry about the door, we were just- Uh, we were-”

“Having a private discussion!” Pidge was buried in one of the beanbags in the living room, calling out to cover what seemed to be Hunk’s mistake, “None of your business!” Her statements seemed much more final, possibly because she issued them from behind her Switch, meaning this wasn’t up for discussion right now with such pressing matters at hand.

Lance shrugged it off, dropped his backpack by the door to his bedroom before heading to the fridge, not exactly sounding convinced but not fighting them on it, “Sure, let’s go with that…” He could feel there was some sort of facial journey that Hunk was going on behind his back, but was more distracted looking for a coke, hoping caffeine would kill the headache he realized the groupchat had sprung on him. Even muted, seeing the number of messages waiting still stressed him out, and he needed something other than weather to distract him now. Practically halfway inside the fridge he called out to his roommates again, “Look, just text me or something next time you plan to block the door. I kinda made a jerk of myself to Allura tonight and then I got some news from the family and I’m not really in the mood to be kicked out tonight.”

Hunk was blinking at him when Lance finally found his drink and came up from the fridge to look at him, rubbing the back of his neck, “Of course! Uh… bad news?” He wasn’t the type to push when it came to family but he meant well.

“No,” Lance said sarcastically, cracking open the can as he closed the door with his foot, “Great news- Yet another _15 year old_ in the family knows who they’ll love forever! And I managed to say how happy I was, then leave before all the ‘ _What about you, mijo?_ ’ questions rolled in!” Hunk winced as Lance took a deep sip, coming up looking a little less tense as he sighed, “I’m saving reading those for tomorrow when I’ll hopefully envy a _teenager_ a little less.”

“Sorry, dude,” Hunk offered, but he wasn’t as vocally encouraging as usual when he sheepishly offered, “I mean, who knows, maybe you’ll be in their place… _soon_? Like, _really_ so-”

Pidge was just far enough out of Lance’s eyesight to be able to shoot Hunk a poisonous look bad enough to make him flinch and stop talking. But Lance didn’t notice, more focussed on heading to his room and also being a little less of himself as he flippantly replied, “Yeah, sure I will. Say that every day and it’s bound to come true.” Maybe he was disregarding how good it was to go early when he was initially cut early, but right now he was thinking about how good a nap sounded. Groupchat’s didn’t exist in his sleep, obviously, so maybe he could skip studying and go to bed really early…

When his door was for sure closed Pidge sprang up. When it had been in front of her face you couldn’t see the Switch wasn’t even on- It had been a cover for her own anxieties after her and Hunk had nearly been caught mid-argument over how to handle this. She stood in front of Hunk, “ _‘Soon’_?” She hissed, “If I hadn’t shot you that look were you just gonna keep going like that?”

Hunk immediately protested, “It’s not that much of a hint! It’s encouragement!”

“You’re lucky he’s in a bad mood when you can’t hold it together for ten minutes!” She didn’t mean to berate him so much but couldn’t help the stress that had been shared with her, “Told me about it as soon as you walked in last night and now I’ve gotta hold you to not telling him, don’t I?”

Last night, Hunk _had_ done just that, had squealed as soon as he saw Pidge was alone in the apartment- After Keith told him not to tell Lance that he knew him and knew he was his soulmate, Hunk made quick work of Keith not saying _not_ to tell _anyone else_. Pidge had handled it pretty well up until Hunk just to conspire to push them together when she decided they needed to keep this under wraps like Keith asked Hunk to. In fact, she’d filled in the loophole by directly pressing him to stop telling anybody else. (“ _Even my therapist?_ ” Hunk asked last night, which earned him a withering look from Pidge, who didn’t dignify that with a response.)

“I don’t really see why we can’t tell him…” Hunk was a romantic at heart and he saw no fault in sharing what he knew now.

But Pidge wasn’t romantic and unafraid to make that clear to Hunk, “Because it’s not our job to tell him anything! We’d mess them both up if we go against what Keith told you he wanted to do and just went and told Lance who he is- I haven’t met anyone who was happy to have their soulmate spoiled for them, ever!”

Hunk looked like he wanted to reject that, but it was true. He needed to hit the brakes before he hurt either of them- He certainly didn’t need to turn both his job and his apartment both into hostile environments if he messed up by telling Lance. Still, he did offer one thing, “It’s kinda weird to say _spoil-_ It’s not like it’s a movie, we’re people.”

Pidge snorted a bit, rolling her eyes, “It’s just an expression, Hunk.”


	4. Chapter 4

Was anyone really a stranger to internet stalking these days? Keith certainly wasn’t; he went through a chronic case of FOMO his first year at school before he made any truly close friends. The few he had become a little familiar with would post about parties he wasn’t invited to, and he’d stay up at night wondering what it’d be like to be so… public.

Maybe it was his fault he wasn’t invited, maybe he earned that reputation out of fear of meeting his soulmate drunk on jungle juice and social anxiety. Hell, he didn’t actually talk to any of those few people anymore, despite the many nights he ached to be thought of, maybe that was why, maybe they figured out he was a flake and knew not to include him.

Maybe the friends he made his first year were just assholes.

Right now though, he wasn’t looking at Hunk or Matt’s Instagrams, his technically two closest friends. (Not that there was much to look at, Hunk posted once in a blue moon a picture of Shay or his family, and Matt ran a page solely dedicated to dog spotting.) No, he managed to track down Lance’s account- and _wow_ , was he active on it.

There was some pattern to his posts, surprisingly. There’d be a couple of gym selfies taken in the mirror. Then photos of some pastry from his work. Some purposely blurry candids of himself from parties. A few birthday shoutouts for some friends. Gym selfie, pastries, blurry candid, birthday shoutout, gym, pastry, blur, birthday… Randomly interspaced with photos of something Pidge of Hunk were doing or throwbacks to family vacations and parties. There were a couple of posts showing his desk, scattered textbooks,  empty wrappers, and multicolored pens strewn across it as he lamented his major in the caption- Astrophysics. Lots of studying and all-nighters being documented and smothered in filters.

Keith tried not to do too deep of a dive, trying not to feel creepy. It was hard not to when he was currently hiding under his blankets with only the light of his phone cast across his face. If you were to take a picture of him right now, he’d look like he was preparing to put a hit out on the guy.

The pictures at the gym were hard to look at because, well, Keith couldn’t help squinting to look for his soulmarks. Despite Lance wearing all these different tank tops and shorts, there wasn’t a single hint of any words that Keith thought could be his own peeking out. Maybe they both had it in the same place, right above the hip bone. Lance didn’t post anything shirtless that wasn’t only shoulders and up, wearing shirts at all these beaches and pools.

Keith had done the same thing for all these years. God, it was an uncomfortable outfit, he knew that well enough.

The only photo that made him stop for longer than a few seconds was one of Lance sitting on the ground, a blanket underneath him and some sort of cooler propped open in front of him. He was having a picnic.

And there was a girl sitting next to him.

They were holding hands.

Lance and the girl squinted up at the camera, smiling wide. Lance had that same tousled brown hair he’d had when Keith first saw him, a little shorter than before, but was obviously dressed for warmer weather. The photo looked to be from last summer. And the girl, well… She was beautiful, with dyed white hair and striking eyes hidden behind translucent heart-shaped sunglasses, wearing a pink sundress. Checking her tagged account, he saw her name, _Allura_ , and _fuck_ if that wasn’t the _exact_ name a girl this gorgeous would have. With bated breath, Keith read the caption.

 _“Who says you can’t hang out with your coworkers when they kidnap you for a day out? Pic creds to Coran, of course ;) #workfam #dayoff #theyretoogoodtome_ ”

Keith was almost embarrassed by how quickly relieved he felt knowing this wasn’t some girlfriend of Lance’s. Just a coworker he hung out with, apparently like family to him, it seemed.

People who dated those they knew weren’t their soulmates confused Keith sometimes, but it wasn’t unheard of. Sometimes, you just needed someone to pass the time until you both found your somebody, and the splits didn’t often hurt because you really did know you weren’t _meant_ for each other. Hookups still seemed easier to him, because there was no chance of getting emotionally attached like there was if you really loved someone despite them not being for you. Keith had dealt with that, once or twice crushing too hard on friends in high school. He’d never let them know, now that he thought about it. They and Lance officially had something in common: being totally unaware to the romantic anxiety they caused Keith.

That last post took the wind out of him slightly, and Keith put his phone down with a sigh. He had been sighing a lot lately, in reply to Hunk’s concerned texts or Shiro’s knock on his bedroom door. He’d missed two days of work and class, claiming a stomach bug. But today felt like it might finally be time to head back out into the real world.

The sunlight coming in through his window made Keith remember it wasn’t actually as dark outside as it was under his covers, making his head hurt. His eyes were sore from staring at his phone for too long, and he caught a glance at himself rubbing them in his dresser’s mirror. One look and he made the difficult decision of hopping into the shower, scrubbing the greasiness out of his hair and taking care to not look down at his words. Keith used to carefully examine them in almost every shower, continued to do so after he got out as well. He’d probably spent hours of his teen and adult life reading them backwards in the bathroom mirror, tracing his fingers over each letter. A fearful part of him warned himself every time not to touch them too harshly or they might rub off. (Literally impossible, but a fear nonetheless.) Now, they still held that uncomfortable burn- something Keith was starting to think was a symptom of not replying, but maybe he was overreacting.

After getting dressed again he texted Matt to let him know he was coming in today, finally. Matt’s reply was surprisingly quick, texting back, “Great! Me and Hunk’ll be happy to actually see you again so we know you’re not going full hermit :)!”

Keith wondered if Matt knew how passive aggressive the smiley came across. The answer was _Most Likely_. Keith couldn’t blame him after leaving Matt and Hunk alone to manage the store. How the three of them handled keeping it running was enough of a mystery that if looked into too deeply would reveal itself to be the truth that they were yet another criminally understaffed bookstore. When one couldn’t come in, Matt’s sister apparently would sometimes fill in. If more than two couldn’t, they closed for the day. So, Keith could admit to feeling guilty about this move, knowing it was an inconvenience and hoped to make it up to the two of them.

To his surprise, when Keith arrived a train ride and a short walk later, the two of them didn’t look mad at him as the bell on the door signaled his arrival. They’d just opened so there weren’t any customers in quite yet, so Keith felt a little more comfortable leading with his apology.

“Hey, guys,” Keith croaked a little more awkwardly than he would’ve liked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, “Look, I really wanna say sorry, y’know, for calling out…”

“It’s not the end of the world, my man,” Hunk said with a shrug. He didn’t usually sound this noncommittal, but he was behind the cash register counting the drawer so it made some sense for him to sound distracted, “It was only Tuesday and Wednesday, you know those aren’t our busy days.”

“Right, but I still feel bad about it, it’s just that-” Keith started before Matt cut him off.

“Keith, we get it,” Matt looked between himself and Hunk, “Both of us have been there-” He sounded helpful for just a moment before adding with a bit of a smirk, “Okay, well, we weren’t _cowards_ and like, actually spoke right away, but that’s beside the point.”

Keith cringed, “Coward is a _strong_ word.”

“No, you’re kinda a coward,” Matt then hiked a thumb over towards Hunk, “But I'm more on your side than him.”

“Have you guys been _discussing_ this?!” Keith almost raised his voice, more out of embarrassment than anger. He didn’t quite get what Matt meant by on his side, either.

“ _Frequently_!” Matt had a shit-eating grin on while Hunk was making a strange face. He seemed to find this a lot funnier than Hunk or Keith.

Keith had the realization that his relief at not having this aired out in front of customers also meant that Matt and Hunk could be as brutally honest with him as they liked as well. Read as: They could tease him half to death if they wanted to right now. Keith groaned, pressing his back against the door and slumping slightly, “I’d prefer you didn’t-”

This time, Hunk cut him off, and now he sounded more than a little irritated, “Well, I’d actually prefer you go through with this sooner rather than later, okay?” This wasn’t teasing. No. This was _fully_ to be read as brutal honesty. Matt looked surprised at Hunk’s statement, opening his mouth like he was going to weigh in then closing it without a word. Obviously, Hunk hadn’t been this honest when he was discussing it with Matt. Hunk continued in the silence, “And I- The reason I can’t really be on your side during this happily is that it’s just not really fair. Like, I don’t plan on ratting on you, because that’s _wrong_ . But I have to have you know that I think it’s also _wrong_ that you get to know and Lance doesn’t. It’s not fair to him, that’s what I think, and it’s only ‘cus you’re my friend too that I’m as invested in this as I am.” The time between figuring this out and Keith coming back seemed to have intensified Hunk’s opinion in private. He no longer was bumbling about this; He was hurt on Lance’s behalf.

Slowly, Matt finally spoke, turning his attention from Hunk to Keith. He spoke like he was trying to relieve the pressure in the room slightly, “Uh, well… For the record, I didn’t know he felt that strongly. I’m gonna call you less of a coward to, uh, _offset_ that.”

“No,” Keith stepped away from the door, sitting on one of the steps leading down into the store, speaking words that hurt to admit, “You’re right, and I know that. I’m not even on my side in this, alright? I’ve just been waiting so long to figure this out and… No one tells you how scary it is to meet the stranger you know you’ll love and not know anything about them, and now I have no idea how to get to know him, or even if I’m supposed to, honestly. No one ever talks about if going into it all blind is that bad.”

Neither Matt nor Hunk said either to confirm or deny this. It was true, but it was one of the uglier realities that showed what wasn’t romantic about the soulmarks.

Keith admitting to his shortcoming made the atmosphere of the room soften more, even as he buried his head in his hands as he finished speaking. No, he wasn’t going to cry. This whole thing just made his head and heart feel like they were staging a formal civil war against each other. He knew Hunk had the right to think he was being stupid and finally added, “I do want to deal with this, and I don’t know how. That’s it. That’s my issue. I’ve decided I want him to know… but not know it’s me.” He couldn’t’ve admitted this to himself earlier when he was busy shutting himself in with his feelings, but the open disapproving truth Hunk was handing him made him decide more on the spot.

“Wait, is this you admitting you want… A solution? I’m a little lost, now.” Matt blew air through his mouth a little as Keith gave a short nod, “Okay, shit, yeah, I wasn’t expecting you wanting one _today_. I thought we’d be waiting longer. But we can work with that if you can explain it a bit more clearly.”

“I think I got it clear enough and my solution is still you telling him. You know that already.” Hunk said curtly.

“And I’m saying clearly that we’re still avoiding that. _You_ know that already.” Keith replied just the same, “Something different, I’m saying that I want to tell him but not _tell him_ tell him. Not quite now, but very soon, but not _directly_ , because I still don’t know what to say out loud to him. Does that make sense, is that something that I can achieve?”

“I think I’m starting to get it,” Matt said slowly, “We could figure that out… Probably?” Matt was saying “ _we_ ” a lot, the same way people say “ _We’re expecting!_ ” or “ _We’re getting promoted!_ ” As if this was a team effort- And Keith couldn’t lie, it seemed to be one, officially.

“You’re saying you couldn’t face him right away, but you still want him to know, that’s it?” Hunk seemed less mad and his hard opinions were shying away for now, but he still looked doubtful, shuffling money between his hands. They had to count the drawer at the start of every shift, but right now it didn’t feel like they were at work, it felt like they were planning a government operation.

Keith looked up to make eye contact with him, “Yeah, I think that’s the middle ground of being fair to him; Lance should know his soulmate knows who he is and is close by, but just… can’t say who he is yet, not by name. That’s what I want to do, somehow, and hopefully he won’t react badly. Is there a way to make that work?”

Matt and Hunk shared another look before Matt shrugged and gave Keith half a smile, “Yeah… Again, we can… We can make it work, we just might need to pull some miracles.”

Keith had to believe the two of them, to save himself from whatever anger Hunk could escalate to or the continued well-meant teasing Matt would put him through either if he kept clamming up.

And, of course, in the end, the point was to be fair. To Lance. Keith normally didn’t care this much about being fair to others, but suddenly knowing his soulmate already felt like it was changing him.

Hopefully, for the better.

For Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy to show Keith realizing "oh shit I might be being a bit selfish" but rest assured, he ain't gonna make this easy on anyone


	5. Chapter 5

It took them a full week to make a plan. Keith would first formulate some ideas with his coworkers, then come home to Shiro to run it by his more logical outlook. Sometimes Matt rode the train home with him so he could spend time with Shiro too, and they discussed yet another possible option over a box of cheese pizza. They were lucky there was still a pizza place open at nearly midnight. 

“So, we want to go into this with you not speaking to Lance, but still  _ talking  _ to him?” Matt paused to swallow the bite in his mouth, “There’s only one way to do that: We gotta write this.” It was an option already spoken about in one way or another but mostly danced around because there’d yet to be a non-awkward way to execute it.

Whereas Matt was leaning heavily against Shiro’s shoulder on the couch, Keith was currently in the armchair, his head hanging down as he had himself flipped. He gestured a shrug as he spoke, “Yeah, but do I write him a letter, or text him…?”

“Why not both?” Shiro offered, unconsciously threading his fingers through Matt’s hair. He had the end of his arm slung over the couch, already having taken his prosthetic off for the night. Matt batted his hand away, mumbling something about ‘ _ getcha greasy pizza fingers off _ .’ Giving a short laugh to whatever Matt said, he continued, “Get him something with your number on it, so he has the choice to text you if he wants to. If he doesn’t say anything to you in a week, we figure something else out.” He’d gotten much gentler with his opinion of Keith’s method right now. 

“Yeah, but how do we get anything to him?” Keith rubbed his eyes tiredly, stifling a yawn.

Matt sat up slightly, sounding a little proud of this contribution,  “We could order something for him and send it to his apartment? Pidge lives with him so I know where he is, and I know this bakery,  _ Wallflour _ , they can do delivery with messages and all-”

“Can’t,” Keith said without thinking, “He works there.”

There was a pause. Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith as his brother realized what he just said, “Keith,  _ how do you know that? _ ” The tone barely hid the thinly veiled accusation. 

Keith looked away from the two of them, pursing his lips, “I might’ve…. Found his Instagram… and looked into it…”

“A  _ lot _ ?” Matt questioned slowly.

“A lot…” Keith groaned, sitting up and righting himself, blaming the rush of blood to his head on the blunder. 

Shiro made a  _ tsk-ing  _ noise, “Okay, we’ll talk about that later. I know a florist or two in town, they might just be a bit apprehensive to do something without attaching your name, secret admirers died out a long time ago, before, y’know…” He gestured to the mark Keith knew was placed above his right knee, “These started popping up.”

Soulmarks had started appearing on people sometime in the 1700s, but there were still old accounts of romance before them. Keith felt bad for his ancestors who might’ve been in the middle of a happy marriage only to realize one day they were never meant for their spouse. That was a commonly recorded tale that usually ended in either very awkward divorce or a semi-rigid system of co-parenting while searching for their soulmates if kids were added to the equation. 

“But we’ll figure that out,” Shiro eventually reassured him, barely hiding his own yawn, “In the morning.”

“Bedtime.” Matt drew out the words, getting up from the couch and stretching.

Keith shook his head, “I’m gonna stay up a little longer and try to think of what I want the message to say, okay?” 

Shiro and Matt exchanged a look that seemed to say, ‘ _ Do we tell stupid child to go to bed or...? _ ' and ‘ _ He’s not actually a child, though. Just your little brother. _ ’ After that Shiro just nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder as he walked past to head to his bedroom, “Alright, then. But get some sleep eventually. I don’t want to see you still sitting here awake in the morning.” Keith agreed and said his goodnights to both of them, waiting to hear the sound of Shiro’s door closing before he took out his phone and opened the notes app.

‘This is gonna sound weird,’ He began typing out a possibility, ‘But I know you’re my soulmate. I just don’t how to meet you yet. But if you want you can text me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.’

No, that was too straight forward. Lance would probably think this was someone trying to scam him. Keith had heard some very vague stories of that happening to at least one or two people in town. 

‘I know this is crazy,’ He began again, typing another new message idea, ‘But I’ve seen you around and I have a feeling you’re actually my soulmate. Here’s my number, text me?’

That wasn’t any better, was it? Still pretty heavy to plop on top of a bouquet of flowers and leave on someone's doorstep. 

Finally, Keith settled on avoiding the S-Word. ‘Hey. I hope this isn’t creepy, but I've seen you around and was just wondering if you wanted to start talking?’ then he added his number yet again. He hoped whatever he chose would be okay to do without including his name. Thinking about it, he hesitantly added to that last message idea, ‘My name’s K, by the way.’

Anyone’s name could start with K, couldn’t it? That wasn’t too telling but didn’t leave Lance totally in the dark. Then he took a quick look online to see what kind of flowers you might send someone if you were imitating the secret admirers of a time gone by. When he first typed in, ‘What flowers do you send-’ The search engine immediately suggested, ‘For a funeral?’

Hopefully, doing this wouldn’t result in Keith’s funeral. 

Finishing his question, he found that pink roses were considered enough to say ‘ _ Hey, give me a chance _ ’ without coming across too strong. Carnations were for new love; This was new, wasn’t it? Gardenias were for old-fashioned love, and well, this was sort of old-fashioned to do too. Keith hoped that those wouldn’t look dumb or too much all together as he added that to his notes for what to do with this order.

He dragged his feet on the way to the kitchen to put the last of the pizza into the fridge. While there, he noticed a yellow sticky note on something. It was one of those bottled smoothies that Shiro drank in the morning, and the note was marked with Matt’s handwriting sprawling across it, ‘ _ Have a good day at work _ ’ with a simple heart drawn next to it. Matt had to have added it when he went to get a soda out of the fridge or something for Shiro to see in the morning. 

It made Keith stop moving for a moment. In some part of his imagination, he couldn’t help but think back to old romantic fantasies of his own. He’d wanted someone who’d be good to wake up next to in the morning, someone who’d text him something ridiculously sappy when he really needed it. It was embarrassing to relive the memory of those hopes as he saw this small gesture, to now know that Lance was taking the place of whatever hypothetical person could’ve been there. Keith hoped desperately for a split second that the way he was going about this wasn’t going to crush those fantasies. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a bit of a shorter chapter but i hope yall still like it. I'd love to let yall know if you have any questions you're welcome to comment here or message me at my tumblr @ demipunk.tumblr.com :)


	6. Chapter 6

Wallflour had gotten unexpectedly slammed with orders later in the day than they were expecting, and Lance and Allura had to stay after closing to try to finish the ones schedules for morning pick up as the sun started to set over the city. The lights were kept on in the kitchen, with the lobby and counter area only light up by whatever light leaked through. 

“Some people,” Lance grunted as he fixed the attachment of a stuck industrial mixer, “ _ Really _ like to cut it close with the 24 hours notice for large orders, don’t they?”

“Not like we haven’t dealt with this before, it’s a given with running any consumer-reliant service. ” Allura said in an annoyed but resigned tone, her brow furrowed as she continued piping pink and yellow rosettes onto a two-tiered cake.

“‘Customer-reliant,’” Lance huffed half a laugh as he turned on the machine to its initial lowest setting, “ _ Technically _ you and your dads run this place. I’m just a henchman you pay minimum wage.” 

The way they ran the bakery had become second nature of course, with Lance doing the majority of mixing and managing orders while Allura made sure the bakes came out correct and decorated, her dads- Alfor and Coran, two of the only people Lance knew that had both lost a soulmate before gaining sudden marks that matched when meeting each other- kept the books and supported them. Wallflour, in some way, was Allura’s little piece of a dream, and Lance helped keep it running. 

The expression made Allura laugh, almost squeezing a blob of yellow frosting where it in no way should be as she teased him, “A  _ ‘henchman’ _ ? Really? You think  _ so  _ highly of yourself, it seems.”

Before Lance could reply, there was a tapping at the store’s front door. He frowned as he turned off the mixer and wiped his hands on his apron, walking out of the kitchen to see who it could be. The door was locked and he kept the chain on as he opened it, speaking out from the 4 inch gap it left open to him, “I’m sorry, but we’re closed-” Then, he realized it was Shay, Hunk’s girlfriend, carrying a reusable bag carefully, “Oh, hey!” He undid the chain to let her into the darkened front lobby of the bakery, “What brings you here so late? Something wrong?”

Admittedly, Lance realized that it sounded strange for him to assume something was wrong, but Shay and Lance simply didn’t interact alone very often unless she was staying over for the night at their apartment. But her gentle smile eliminated any awkwardness as she set the bag carefully up on the counter, “Nothing’s wrong! We were just closing up our shop and realized we  forgot to deliver an order…” Her short cropped brown hair caught a few strands of the light coming in from the kitchen, with the outlines of her face being given a much softer look from it. 

“An order?” Lance was confused, “From the  _ florist… _ ? Did Allura call in for some edible petals or something?” It wasn’t a common customer request and turned Lance off to try, but he understood the aesthetic appeal.

“Nope,” Shay answered patiently as she unzipped the top of the bag, “It’s actually for  _ you  _ this time!” Slowly and gently she retrieved what looked to be a small, wrapped bouquet, pink and white flowers poking out of the top among green leaves. It wasn’t extravagant or anything, but looked nice all put together. 

There was a pause as she extended it to him, Lance cracking a small, confused smile as he hesitatingly took it, “Uhhhh... thanks? Who’s it from?”

He would’ve expected the answer to be some family member trying to cheer him up after the bitter feelings of hearing about Carmen and all, but Shay just shrugged, “I’m not sure; Grandma took the order and arranged it together, I just brought it by on my way home.” She started zipping the bag up again, slinging it over her shoulder much less carefully now that it was empty, “I think it came with a card, just read that and it should have the name.”

Lance was too dumbfounded to say goodbye to Shay as she left the store, searching the bundle for any identifying slips of paper. Allura was shouting something at him from the kitchen and he didn’t catch it at first, prompting her to come out as well to speak more clearly to him, “Lance, I asked who it was?”

He didn’t look at her, distractedly answering, “It was, uh, my roommate’s girlfriend. And she had  _ flowers  _ for me.”

“Does your roommate’s girlfriend want to be  _ your  _ girlfriend…?” Allura asked him in a casual of an amused tone that she could muster. 

“Oh, no!” Lance shook his head, “No, she just works at her family’s florist place, she was delivering them- There it is!” The card was buried underneath the bloom of a carnation, and Lance was finally able to take it out, shaking off a little water from the flowers. 

The front of the card had the logo for Crystal Floristry, the shape of a globe with flowers growing behind it with the name in green script at the forefront, and the message was printed out of the back on an imitation typewriter font. 

_ ‘To Lance,’ _ It started in it’s small writing, _ ‘I’ve seen you around and was wondering if you’d want to shoot me a text sometime? You can reach me at…’ _ Lance had to squint to see the number and to read the last line,  _ ‘Get back to me whenever you can- K.’ _

Lance hadn’t even noticed that Allura had come out into the lobby until she was taking the card from his hand, reading it herself before he could decide whether or not he wanted her to. She got quiet too, both of them standing there breathing in the smell of cut flowers and whatever was drifting out from the kitchen. Lance’s attempt to break the silence was half-assed at best, “... Try-hard, much?”

“I was gonna say creepy,” Allura made a face, “But, they didn’t do the whole ‘ _ I  _ know  _ this is creepy’ _ thing, so that makes it a little less… Serial killer-y.” 

“Oh, because saying you know you’re being creepy is total serial killer move.” Lance scoffed out a short laugh.

Allura couldn’t hide a growing smile, “Sending anonymous flowers might still count towards the weird factor.” She went to take the flowers from him, ‘C’mon, I’ll take them home for you so you don’t have to look at what's practically saying  _ ‘I’m coming for you.’ _ ” She said the last few words in an exaggerated spooky voice, laughing to herself.

But Lance flinched back, tightening his grip on the flowers, “W-Wait! I didn’t say I didn’t  _ want  _ the serial killer flowers!” 

Allura gave him a strange look, “But we’ve agreed they’re  _ weird _ .”

“They’re  _ kinda  _ weird,” Lance replied, looking down at them for a moment, “But, I don’t know… I’ve just never had someone just send me flowers like this. Isn’t it...  _ kinda  _ cute?”

Allura gave him a deadpan response, “Not really.”

Never one to be afraid to act just a little childish, Lance stuck his tongue out at her as he took the cars back from her as well, “I’m keeping them-”

“-Okay, just don’t text them-” Allura started to interrupt him as he kept going.

“ _ And I’ll try to text the number later! _ ” Lance finished in what was possibly too confident of a tone, pointed ignoring the very irritated face Allura made at him. 

“Lance!” When she said his name like this, her accent was more pronounced, stressing the ‘LA’ sound of his name, “That’s a bad idea, and you know it.”

“Why?” Lance asked, “Why is it such a bad idea to maybe make a new friend?”

“Because no one is sending you flowers to become your ‘friend.’” Allura’s voice cracked an almost indistinguishable amount, and if Lance didn’t know her so well he wouldn't have been able to tell. She kept talking, not yelling at all but with certain disapproval clearly there, “You don’t know them or what they’re up to or what they want…”

Lance softened his expression as much as he could, not wanting to be confrontational over this of all things, “It’s just a number-”

“And they knew where you worked.” Allura interrupted him again, crossing her arms over her chest, “Where to deliver it to.”

Lance could only blame himself for that much, “Everyone knows where I work. It’s all over my socials, and I’ve got some public accounts, y’know.” He shrugged, “They probably liked my page and deciding to go about talking to me…  _ outside  _ of a DM.” Even he had to admit this kept flipping between weird and cute, creepy and sweet, definitely uncommon above all else, “Maybe they really are just looking for someone to y’know, get by with. Like a pen pal. I know a couple of folks who’ve done that.”

“A pen pal who knows your name, but hasn’t given you theirs?” Allura kept pressing him, looking more and more unconvinced.

Lance immediately protested, “No, see, it says right here,  _ ‘Get back to me…’ _ ” He had to squint again, “ _...-K! _ ”

“That is a  _ letter _ !”

“Letters can be names!”

Allura finally threw her hands up, “You know what? Fine, do whatever you like, Lance.” She shook her head, beginning to head back towards the kitchen, “Just don’t mess up like I did!”

“Oh, come on!” Lance groaned, dragging a hand down his face as he set the bouquet down on the counter, calling back to her, “Don’t just hit me with that again and walk off mad like some mom!”

“I’m not mad!” Allura replied in a singsong tone, “I’m just-”

“ _ Disappointed _ ,” Lance said it in unison with her, prompting Allura to make a knowing sound as Lance rolled his eyes. He braved making his way back into the kitchen where Allura had gone back to decorating, almost finished, speaking by himself now, “I don’t want to remind you of yourself, honestly.”

“Well, you will be giving me plenty to be reminded of if you fall for something as easily as I did, won’t you?” Allura tried to laugh at herself but it sounded more like it hurt.

“You didn’t fall for anything,” Lance shook his head, making a space for himself to hop up onto the work table where he knew it bugged her for him to sit, “You were really thoroughly tricked, and that- That’s not  _ your  _ fault.”

Allura didn’t respond for a moment, placing down the piping bag slowly and looking away from Lance, “You really think I was? That I didn’t deserve what I got?”

Allura had got her heart broken. She got tricked into thinking this was her person, this Lotor guy who’d pulled off a con that actually made the local news circuit. She got an apartment with him after  _ ‘dating’  _ for more than a year, and got stuck hauling his things out the day she saw his real soulmark. She got a date in court for a case of emotional distress against him (and the artist who agreed to help him pull off the tattoo) to deal with. All and all, Allura got dealt a shit hand because someone else was impatient. 

But, “You loved somebody. That’s not a fault of you as a person.” Lance finally said in a gentle, prodding voice. 

Allura finally looked at him, and she wasn’t exactly crying, but there was a crease between her brows that said she really wanted to. Lance just opened his arms without saying anything, and when they hugged the tears still didn’t come. Allura hadn’t cried in front of someone else in a very long time, and she wasn’t willing to. 

Not quite sure what his next comforting words could be, Lance mumbled, “You’re gonna have to stop acting like such a big sister to me at some point, my actual family might get jealous.”

Allura’s head suddenly snapped up, “I have been trying to get your family to love me for literal  _ years  _ so that your mom will cook for me-  _ Don’t ever think I won’t jump to get adopted in. _ ”

“But… you  _ like  _ your dads?”

“I’m willing to make sacrifices for this.”

Lance didn’t say anything for a moment, both of them blinking at each other. It was a challenge between the both of them, in an unspoken agreement. Then, there was a sort of string that broke under their feelings, and they both just started laughing at each other, Allura leaning heavily against Lance to keep herself up. Neither won in this little contest to see who’d break first. Lance kept imitating his mom and the things she’d admire about Allura anytime she’d visit, and it lifted to tension right out of the room and off into the distance. They were able to get back to what needed to be done, turning on a small speaker and singing along to some George Ezra song that came on, like they didn’t care about the apartment neighbors living above them.

(The neighbors were, of course, Allura’s roommates, who’d come to expect this sort of thing when Allura told them she’d bought out the space for lease under them all. They slept through most nights like these now.)

If this whole number thing didn’t work out, Lance decided after eventually getting out of work that night, at least he still had his friends like Allura. At least he still had people who wouldn’t hesitate to help him out of the mess of anything.

With that in mind, he went to bed, sending one quick message before turning his phone off quickly, forcing himself to sleep instead of checking to see when he’d get a response, or if he ever would. 

‘ _ Really, flowers? Can’t help but question your style, K. _ ’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely really love showing Lance and Allura's friendship and I hope you guys do too <3 As always, I appreciate all kudos and comments, and try to reply back as fast as I can <3333


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait folks! I've been a little under the weather lately, but all the really amazing comments I've been getting really motivated me to get back to work ASAP!! I know this story isn't the most popular, but I appreciate all of you a lot <3

They started… suddenly talking to each other.

Keith had woken up to that first message, immediately feeling his heart drop from his chest to his stomach and back up to his throat when he saw it in the morning. It was fear, surprise, excitement, wrapped together into a bundle of overactive nerves. He spent the entire first 5 minutes of his commute typing and retyping messages, debating what was casual enough to not be overbearing but not so casual it was obnoxious and ignorable. For a moment he considered apologizing for the flowers but decided that’d make him look like he was shy, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself like that.

(Of course, Keith was a shy kind of guy by default, waiting for the right words for years, but he was also in chronic denial.)

He eventually settled on a quick reply,  _ ‘C’mon, was it such a bad id ea? _ _’_ Immediately he felt like that made him sound cocky and cursed under his breath. A mother sitting next to him gave him a glare as she blocked her child's ears as if he’d actually said it loud enough for a kid to hear. Still, he gave an apologetic smile back, earning an eye roll. 

She had distracted him and he nearly missed the startlingly fast reply.  _ ‘My coworker certainly disapproved- For the record, no one’s sent me flowers before tho, so it was for sure unique.’  _

_ ‘Unique in a good way or bad way…?’ _

_ ‘She called you a serial killer.’ _

Keith blinked at his phone, narrowing his eyes and pursing his lips before typing,  _ ‘Okay, 1. Ouch 2. Inaccurate.’ _

_ ‘Can you prove that?’ _ Lance added an emoji with a raised eyebrow. 

_ ‘I’m a straightforward guy,’ _   Keith split his texts,  _ ‘I’d tell you in the card if you should prepare for murder.’  _

(A t some point, he'd once been advised not to double text too soon and for a split second, he felt rude. then, he felt dumb for actually putting any worth on a some made up texting etiquette.)

_ ‘Awful polite of you to give me a warning so I could pencil that into my schedule.’  _ Then, he added expectedly,  _ ‘So, you’re a guy? Is that the only thing you’re gonna introduce yourself with?’ _

_ ‘I’m also a Scorpio?’ _

_ ‘OKAY THERE IT IS!’  _ Lance’s reply was immediate,  _ ‘Only a fuckin SCORPIO would pull this.’ _

Keith snorted out loud,  _ ‘Again, good way or bad way?’ _

_ ‘Just straight facts baybeeeee.’ _

It was dumb but Keith felt a little blush at Lance even jokingly calling him baby- Even if it was purposely misspelled. Reflexively he gave into a preemptively jealous curiosity,  _ ‘You call everyone baby?’ _

_ ‘Oh nah stan twitter’s just getting to me.’  _ Lance sent him another double text,  _ ‘Btw, did you find me through twitter or something? Just wondering.’ _

Part of Keith felt guilty for his next lie,  _ ‘I saw you on campus and asked around if anyone knew your instagram.’ _

_ ‘Damn, those things are way too easy to find, might go private just in case,’  _ Lance sounded only half serious,  _ ‘Did you follow me at least? Maybe then I can do my own research on you  by checking your account ;).’ _

Keith hesitated to reply. His instagram had his full name on it…  _ ‘Is it frowned upon to not or would you forgive me being criminally awkward?’  _ He tried to cover the slight self deprecation when he quickly added,  _ ‘I wanted to maybe get to know you before trying to, I don’t know, meet up or something?’ _

He could practically feel Lance considering it,  _ ‘I’d normally say yes, but this is like, a lil interesting. Tho I could just block your number or whatever unless you tell me. I got the power here buddy.’  _ Keith’s stop has just been announced as coming up before Lance added,  _ ‘I could also do a thread bout this and get like, major clout from storytime twitter.’ _

Keith wasn’t super familiar with twitter but asked anyway,  _ ‘That the thing where everyone makes up something to make their life sound all quirky and exciting?’ _

_ ‘You fuckin know it. But… I’d also be exposing my dumb ass for actually talking to you. Lose lose situation :/.’ _

The train finally slowed and Keith typed one last quick message,  _ ‘I actually got to go, but do you maybe… want to keep talking? Like a pair of dumb asses later on?’ _

_ ‘You’ve already given me your number,’  _ Lance’s first reply was almost reassuring,  _ ‘Prepare for me to spam you cus I ain’t gettin any real life consequences from you unless you expose YOURSELF. And I ain’t someone with online shame. Your move.’ _

_ ‘I don’t mind. Talk to you later.’ _

_ ‘Talk later, serial killer with a capital K. _ ’

Keith put his phone away as he walked down the stairs of the Garrison stop’s platform and starting walking towards campus for his 8:30 class. He didn’t expect such an active conversation this early on. Lance had every right to actually ignore him, honestly. But maybe this would turn out alright. Keith could dream that, at least.

Somewhere in an apartment nearby, Lance lay in his bed, way too awake from a pounding heart. He didn’t know how he just managed to be that…  _ cool _ with that whole thing? Maybe his practice texting hookups had finally come in handy in being able to handle just about anyone. He faintly heard another door in the apartment open and sat straight up, scrambling for his own door, an immediate need for confirmation this was actually happening from a rational human being that hadn’t spent their first waking moment texting a total stranger.

When he opened the door, he startled Pidge, who had just left her room and been in the middle of sleepily rubbing her eyes. When his door suddenly swung open she let out a surprised half shout. Before she could even speak he hissed, “I might be an idiot.”

“You’re a future  _ astrophysicist _ ,” She confusedly replied, “Uh,  _ I sure hope not ? ”  _ He forgot if he's already mentioned this guy to her or not. No, when he got home last night Hunk had been out at the school getting some lab work done and Pidge had been on a call with some online D&D group of hers.

“Not academically,” Lance insisted, “I fu- I  _ actually _ messaged that stranger. I messaged him  _ firs t !” _

“What stranger…?” Pidge started walking towards the kitchen and Lance followed. She immediately noticed the flowers, stood up in an emptied wine bottle with water in it Lance had thrown together last night. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow and spoke slowly, “Have those been there?”

Lance went over to them to pick up the card to hand it to her, “They’re from the stranger! He gave my his number-”

“I see that…” Pidge mentally put the pieces together in her head and seamlessly hid the realization of who  _ ‘K’ _ was. She was smart enough to play dumb about that, “And you think you’re an idiot for going through with this?” 

Mentally, she asked Keith the same question in a different tone. 

Lance shrugged noncommittedly, “Yeah? Like, why am I even doing this?” He moved the flowers to set himself up on the counter, “I’m not showing you the texts cus I’m not  _ that _ bold… but I legit told him this would make a good  _ storytime thread. _ ”

“That’s admittedly real dumb and  _ maybe _ rude,” Pidge said slowly as she went to the cabinets to pour herself a bowl of cereal, “But it’s your life, man. Who knows, maybe this’ll die off in a week and you can go back to getting it with occasional strangers to like, fill the void.”

“Who’s saying I can’t be  _ ‘getting it’ _ while talking to him?” Lance gave her a side eye.

Pidge deadpanned her reply, “Please, I can smell you getting attached to this situation and getting all  _ Catholic-guilty _ over not being loyal.”

Giving a half-offended gasp Lance replied, “First of all, I don’t _have_  that level of Catholic guilt or I wouldn’t do  _ half _ of what I do. Second, you’re wrong. I’m not that soft to get  _ ‘attached’ _ to this total, wildin’ stranger.”

Because she was chewing Pidge just gave him a look that said,  _ ‘Sure you won’t.’ _ And earned a stuck out tongue in response.

“Whatever,” Lance hopped off the counter, “Y’know what, I’m gonna get dressed and run out to get a breakfast bagel to like, soothe my soul or some excuse for treating myself, you want anything?” 

“I got my cereal, I’m set.” Pidge shook her head and pointed to the bowl of dry Fruity Pebbles.

Lance had already started getting dressed in his bedroom. (Sort of, just swapping his pajama pants for jeans because 9 AM was no time for effort.) He called out to her, “Eventually you should probably start eating like an adult.”

“I’m a former  _ ‘child prodigy,’ _ ” She half seriously protested, “I can eat whatever I want when I skipped two grades to get where I am today.”

Stepping into his shoes and laughing Lance replied, “And I was  _ ‘a pleasure to have in class!’  _ You don’t see me bragging about it!”

“You forged that on your report card and everyone knows it, you told us last time you were drunk,” Pidge took another bite before adding as Lance walked out his room and passed her, “And actually, could you get more orange juice? I think Hunk mentioned being out and would appreciate it.” Lance agreed as he swiped his keys from the hooks next to the door and walked out.

As equally sleepy looked as she had been, Hunk walked out of his own room shortly after Lance left, smiling a little as Pidge remarked, “Speak of the devil.”

“Yeah, yeah-” He started saying on his way to the kitchen before stopping dead in his tracks. He pointed at the flowers with a squint and said in a tired, monotone voice, “Those really there?”

“Yep.”

“Keith actually went through with it?” He added with an unpleasantly surprised tone. Keith had only briefly entertained the possibility of an anonymous message with Hunk. He must've actually settled on it the night Matt went home with him to see Shiro. 

“Double-yep.”

Hunk sighed defeatedly, “He can be such a  _ loser _ .” He didn’t mean it seriously at all, just exasperated about the relatively nonexistent social tact of his friend.

“Yeah,” Pidge shrugged, “But like, he’ll eventually be  _ Lance’s _ loser.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I especially appreciate comments kind of calling out anyone for like, a real "That's a BS move to pull." I want to make it clear when I'm doing something as an interesting plot device but that I still think should be clearly marked as "Shouldn't Do It Like That." lol. Thanks for reading and I hope to have the next chapter up soon!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter was powered by strawberry smoothies and Oreos, so its wordcount is thankfully a bit longer than the last update! Hope you all enjoy!

Shiro gave Keith a raised eyebrow over his coffee mug as he took a sip in the early morning 2 weeks later, “So, it’s working?”

“Yeah,” Keith was smiling as he shrugged, “Better than I- or, y’know, any of you guys- thought it would work. We’ve just been talking more and more as time goes by.”

It took Shiro a generous pause to respond, “Well, I’m happy for you.”

“It sounds like there’s a but coming after that. Care to share with the class?” Keith’s smile turned into more of a smirk but he also looked unsure. He usually wasn’t this up-and-up this early in the morning unless he had class, but especially not on a Sunday. But he’d actually been in the kitchen before Shiro, humming to himself while waiting for his toast to pop up. 

“But,” Shiro lowered his shoulders as he gestured with his mug towards Keith, “What’s the plan after this?” Keith only pursed his lips in response and it made Shiro make an exasperated face at him, “Keith, you know that you said this was temporary. You have to plan to actually meet him and get this over with soon.” He tried to say it with a good-natured laugh but it still came out as clear criticism. 

“I know I do,” Keith groaned, and went from previously leaning against the counter to stand up a bit straighter, “But it really just hasn’t… Felt right?”

“What do you mean it hasn’t ‘ _felt right’_?”

“I mean that I keep gearing up to asking him to meet up, but every time I feel like my window to ask naturally is about to open up, something stops me.” Keith went to rub at his eyes as he blew out a puff of air, “It’s really frustrating, honestly.”

Shiro looked confused, “Is it nerves? Maybe you just need to psyche yourself up more for it?”

“No, like, something literally comes between my opportunity to ask him if he wants to and me,” Keith shook his head, giving Shiro a wide-eyed look, “I went to suggest it 4 days in to talking to him because Hunk was getting on me for it, but just before I went to ask him to meet in the park or something, Lance said he had to run. Then, last weekend I was gonna text him to see if he wanted to see each other on the campus courtyard but I was at work and suddenly this lady came in with like, 10 books she was trying to return like it was the _end of the world._ Last night I even tried to sneak it into a conversation and he apparently knocked out halfway through- Stopped reading my messages and all. He’s probably not even awake yet, still hasn’t opened them last I checked.”

“That’s… really weird?” Shiro said as he finished a long sip of coffee. 

“I know!” Keith responded as he rolled his eyes, “Maybe this is… I don’t know, the universe telling me it’s not the right time?”

Shiro shook his head, “I really hope not- I’d prefer if the universe would get on your ass as much as everyone else has been ragging on you.” 

“I sure wouldn’t appreciate that, okay?” Keith had gotten more casual about his anxiety around this, saying it like it was half a joke. Maybe it was that he was getting to know Lance, ridding himself of the worry that he’d have trouble really falling for him without at least a little prior history together. Lance turned out to be a pretty funny guy, despite the fact that they’d already gotten into a few minor arguments. Nothing that made Keith think their match was some fluke, but things that felt more playful. It made him hopeful that maybe Lance wasn’t the type of guy to get mad at Keith after he’d explain himself once the meeting was finally set. 

“Just find a way to get it done before spring- Actually, that gives you way too long. Try for before Christmas?” It was the middle of November, so that wasn’t quite as generous as Shiro made it sound.

“I will, it’s just not clicking yet,” Keith then added hopefully, “But… Just talking to him, it’s made things a lot less scary.”

Shiro returned the sentimental tone, “I’ve noticed. I like seeing that you’re actually going out more, and you definitely seem more at ease.”

‘At ease’ felt like a funny way to describe it. But, it was accurate and felt comfortable to hear. Keith actually made plans with Hunk and Matt to go out after work, started really talking to people in class that he hadn’t already confirmed as ‘Not My Soulmate.’ Sure, a few people had began looking at him like he had two heads, but he’d put effort into making new friends, people he actively wanted to be close to, for the first time in a long time. A part of him was bitter about how much he’d made himself miss out on, but he was starting to actually forgive himself for that, and a lot of other things he’d been blaming himself for for too long. “It’s nice,” He admitted out loud, “It’s really nice.”

“Keep it up. I think it’s helping you in more ways than one.” Shiro said as he put down his now empty mug in the sink and checked his watch, “I gotta run, I have some errands that I should probably just get done sooner rather than later. You need anything?”

Keith shook his head, “No, go right ahead. I might head out myself for my own errands, so I might not be home when you get back.”

“I won’t wait up.” Laughing, Shiro left the room to grab his coat before he left for the day. 

Keith decided to catch up on the news for the first time in a while before he left for the day, moving to the living room to sit down in front of the TV and switching to the right channel as he settled himself into the couch. He caught the last words of the anchorman on screen as he turned up the volume, “-was a thing of the past, but just last night a breakthrough has been made in the case against a woman accused of blackmailing citizens with false leads on their soulmates. We’ll go to police chief Sandra Flynn for the details.” Keith leaned closer to the screen, his brows knitting together in curiosity.

A woman in a smart looking suit with a solemn expression joined the split screen, “Thank you, Jim.” She adjusted a stack of papers in front of her as she cleared her throat, “The accused is 28-year-old Jamie Green, who’s victims are claiming she set up a ' _scheme_ ' to, quote, ‘ _Trick folks into hoping they could arrange a relaxed meeting with their soulmate with time to prepare themselves._ ’ unquote. Green allegedly created computer-generated pictures of people soulmarks and attached photos taken from social media of unrelated strangers in order to create a sense of security with the victims. She charged over 10 individuals upwards of $500 to set the meeting and prepare them to say those words to their soulmate, then cut off all communication after payment had been transferred.”

“She operated under multiple aliases to accomplish this scam, correct?”

“Very much so,” The chief nodded, adjusting a pair of wire-framed glasses on her nose, "The victims are filing a class action lawsuit against her as a group and have asked to remain anonymous Because of this, we have decided not to release any further information until the trial has reached completion. If convicted, she could face up to 2 years jail time, and will have no doubt set a new precedent for our society’s idea of a liar.” She gave a nod to Jim’s goodbye as her side of the screen slid back to return to a full view of the anchor. 

“There you have it, folks,” He shook his head, “As always, stay cautious of anyone promising anything that’s too good to be true, and my personal advice would be to let things happen as they should." He switched from a tight-faced expression to a much more relaxed look as he went on to the next topic, "Coming up next, we have special guest Martin Stone with some tips for making your family’s Thanksgiving picture perfect.”

Keith leaned back hard into the couch as the cameras went to a smiling person in an apron beginning to describe ideas for food and decoration, turning it down until the TV was muted to think. After a moment, he looked up at the ceiling, and although he was aware that the powers that be did not live upstairs he still spoke out loud in a slightly fearful tone, “I don’t know if you think that’s funny or something, but isn’t that a bit heavy handed of a hint?”

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again yall! Before we begin I just want to mention, I have been doing a lot of timeskips with these as you can tell, and its because I feel like even if its a bit more of a slow burn, I still don't want to drag you along too gruelingly long of a story lol. Hope you enjoy! Feedback is so appreciated, and thank you to everyone who already has commented, I get so happy reading and responding to them!

On Thanksgiving, some unspoken joke started where Lance began sending K links to all sorts of songs he liked or that he felt were appropriate responses to whatever K said to him. It was easier to get away with, just searching up, copying, and pasting the links or screenshots of the songs from Spotify when Lance could sneak a free moment away from his family. He first sent a link with no prior explanation just because it was what his family was currently playing on the radio in their kitchen. Lance felt like he needed an excuse to text K, as they hadn’t talked much in the past couple days. Besides, he’d take any opportunity to glean some more personal information off of him, and sharing music was a good way to start.

(But he still stood by a personal mantra about how Pidge wasn’t right about him getting attached, because Lance did not get attached to strangers.)

The link sent as just the songs title with a video player above it,  _ ‘Tom’s Diner- Suzanne Vega.’ _

It took a good while for K to respond, and Lance didn’t want to provide context until K asked because he felt like it wasn’t as funny- Not for him, at least.

Instead of asking why Lance was he was sending him a song from 1987, K just responding,  _ ‘I thought that was about to be Fall Out Boy and now I’m confused.’ _

Lance smirked at his phone as soon as he read it, ‘Middle school emo, much?’ He finally gave K a hint,  _ ‘No, it’s just what my family listens to every Thanksgiving when we’re cooking.’ _

_ ‘That's… a fun tradition.’ _

_ ‘Don’t make fun of my family!’  _ Lance meant it jokingly,  _ ‘It’s my way of trying to tell you to have a good Thanksgiving.’ _

K took a couple of minutes to respond, ‘ _ Ok, you’re gonna call me a middle school emo again over this, but I have one personal holiday tradition song and only one personal tradition.’  _ Then, he sent him his own link, _ ‘Together We’ll Ring In The New Year.’  _ The text that came after was clearly read to be sarcastic,  _ ‘Bet you can’t tell what holiday I listen to it for.’ _

_ ‘That is a bit on the nose,’  _ Lance started typing, _ ‘And with that, I’m starting to get the impression that you wore a lot of eyeliner in middle school and had a bunch of Hot Topic buttons on your backpack or something.’ _

K sent him a text that only read,  _ ‘...’  _ and for a moment Lance was afraid that he had been rude, but K added shortly after,  _ ‘I refuse to neither confirm nor deny that.’ _

That’s when Lance started sending more links, with a quick one from an old playlist he pulled up while hiding in the bathroom,  _ ‘Hum Hallelujah- Fall Out Boy.’  _ It wasn’t the right song that used Tom's Diner’s rift, but he still thought it was pretty classic emo. A few more were sent,  _ ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs- Fall Out Boy,’ ‘Dance, Dance- Fall Out Boy,’  _ and one more classic just to test the waters for what other cliches Keith might have listened to _ , ‘I’m Not Okay- My Chemical Romance.’ _

Once he left the bathroom he had to start being a little more sneaky. Lance was getting stared at by his aunties as they saw him typing to K with his phone close to his chest when he was supposed to be helping, suspicious or confused.

He scanned K’s reply,  _ ‘Ok, but it’s not like I listened to was completely from the emo trifecta, don’t pigeonhole me.’ _ After came another link of his own,  _ ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?- Arctic Monkey.’ _

The image of a vague figure with eyeliner and a lot of black denim only intensified for Lance. 

He didn’t have time to reply before K sent him another text, _ ‘You had to have gone through some phase in middle school too, or do you just listen to only your family’s music?’ _

_ ‘Oxford Comma- Vampire Weekend.’  _

_ ‘Oh, so you were one of those kids who wasn’t afraid to listen to explicit songs. How very edgy of you.’  _

_ ‘You bet I was. 15-year-old Lance would hate my taste in music now’  _ Lance sent quickly before his sister got his attention for something. 

“Hey,” She said, “You gonna help me set the table or are you just gonna glue yourself to your phone?”

Lance remembered himself, remembered he’d promised to, and he carefully slid his phone into the back of his jeans, “Yeah, of course.” he’d have to leave K on hold for what he liked now. 

They walked into the dining room of their grandmother’s house, Veronica grabbing a pile of plates of her way out and leaving Lance to gather the silverware. They usually had most family holidays here, sitting at her long rectangle of a table where the adults fit well enough. Anyone under the age of 16 was corralled to a separate room and set themselves around a smaller, round table to bump elbows and groan about wishing they were older so they could get in on the  _ ‘grown-up talk.’  _

(No matter how much Lance tried to convince them growing up was a scam, they rarely listened.)

Veronica stayed quiet for the first few minutes, then gave a sly glance around the room to ensure that no one else was too close by before nonchalantly asking, “So… Who’s on your mind?”

Lance tried not to show any reaction on his face, but a small alarm started going off in his head. His sister had always been able to get a read on him easier than he would’ve liked, but he kept his voice just as casual as hers, “No one.”

 “Alright,” She shrugged, “Let me rephrase: Who’s on your  _ phone _ ?”

“Literally no one, Ronny.” Using the nickname was a well known but rarely admitted tell that he was lying to her.

A tell that Veronica had almost always clearly picked up on, “ _ ‘Literally No One’ _ is such an unfortunate name, but I guess that didn’t make such a bad impression on you if you regularly show them this much attention- What, are they a new coworker or something?”

Lance first lowered his voice, mumbling something Veronica couldn’t understand. She asked him to speak up and he barely did, “He is a  _ friend  _ of mine.”

“Again, work or school?” She laughed, lowering her voice as well, “Give me something to work with here. Just tell me where you met him and I’ll shut up.”

Lance took some time to try to formulate his response, looking away as he made a  _ ‘tsk’  _ noise with his tongue, “We, uh, haven’t physically  _ met _ . We just… text a lot- A fair amount, actually.”

“What?” Veronica cocked her head to the side, “Wait, how’d you start texting him if you didn’t meet?” The tone she used was a perfect example of the fact that Veronica rarely shut up when she said to Lance that she would, especially if it sounded like whatever he was hiding was interesting. She laughed, “Did he slip his number in your back pocket or something passing by?”

“No! God, that’d be creepy,” Lance replied as if that was too bizarre of an idea compared to what actually happened, which he tried to make sound somehow less bad than doing that with his tone, “No, he, uh…” Again, the mumble returned, “Sent me  _ flowers _ .”

“He  _ what _ ?”

“Sent. Me. Flowers.” Lance barely raised his voice, “They were very nice,  _ for your information. _ ”

Veronica just blinked at him, in the middle of going to set another plate down as she stood frozen. Despite the monotone voice she used she had an almost exaggerated expression of fear, “Holy shit, he’s out to kill you.”

“He is not going to kill me!” Lance snapped in a hissed whisper, “God, you sound like Allura.”

“Allura is a very smart person,” Veronica shook her head, “He sent you flowers without asking for your address, so he what, stalked you to get it-”

“He sent them to Wallflour, where literally any human being in 50 miles knows I work without ever  _ stalking  _ me.”

“-Fine, sent them to your work, with his number, and you actually texted him?” 

This line of questioning would’ve made Lance feel guilty and doubtful when this whole thing first started over a month ago now, but now he just felt offended. He set down a pair of spoon maybe too harshly, “Yes, I texted him. He left it open to me to make that choice, it wasn’t like some bait and switch thing. If I don’t want to text him, i don’t”

The slight hurt in his voice made Veronica stop looking at him like he was being foolish, biting her lip and thinking before nodding, “Well, okay, I’ll- I’ll ignore that. If you weren’t weirded out, you weren’t weirded out, fine.”

_“Thank you.”_ Lance replied curtly, returning to a much gentler pattern of arranging the forks and knives with each place setting.

Veronica started questioning him again after mentally deciding she’d left a polite silence between them for long enough, “What’s his name?”

“K.”

“... That is a  _ letter _ .”

“Did you and Allura have a briefing with each other about this or something?!”

“No!” Veronica laughed at the baffled face Lance made at her, “No, you just have two very liked minded ladies in your life who are  _ a bit concerned! _ ”

“There’s nothing to be concerned about,” Lance tried to reassure her but couldn’t look her in the eye, “I’m a grown man, I can handle this. I might not have his full name but… It’s fun to talk to him We’ll bicker, which is kinda weird, but I’m pretty certain he’s joking and I’m the one taking it too seriously too fast-” He stopped himself from exposing more details and finished quietly, “It’s- It’s nothing  _ serious _ .”

“Which is why you haven’t brought him up at all to us.” Veronica made her own conclusion with a slow nod of her head, “Any… other reason?” She puffed out her cheeks a bit as she looked at him, waiting for his response to exhale.

“No.” Lance replied, finally locking eyes with his sister as he set down the final pieces. He switched topics quickly, casting a glance over the now set table with it’s finally fully arranged places, “With that, it looks like we’re all set here.”

His mantra rang out steadily in his head. This was not serious. His family had never been told about anyone Lance had talked to one-on-one even after realizing they weren’t his soulmate, because they were all gossips  _ and  _ made assumptions  _ and  _ disapproved of casual relationships because they never made soulmates happen,  _ so  _ they kept pressuring him to just  _ try those speed dating attempt things just to see if his soulmate might also go so he could finally _ - 

No. They didn’t ever need to be told when he thought he might like someone until it was  _ the  _ one. 

_ The  _ one, of course, that he’d meet and be destined to be with before he even knew if he liked them or not. Obviously. 

For a moment, Veronica looked like she was gonna try to really start the conversation again. Instead, there came a steady hand on Lance’s shoulder as she said to him in a sincere voice, “Alright. No other reason. Let’s go tell Mom the table’s all good.” She gave him a little, teasing ruffle of his hair before letting go and turning to head back to the kitchen.

Lance nodded, finally smiling at her as he followed, “Yeah, lets.”


End file.
